Implementing Windows Server 2012 SR-IOV on HP ProLiant Servers, 2nd edition

Technical white paper | Microsoft Windows Server 2012 SR-IOV
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must be of the same type because the Virtual Function inherits its Vendor ID and Device ID from its associated Physical
Function’s configuration space fields.
Windows Server 2012 recommended system configurations
The PCI subsystem and the Windows Server 2012 kernel contain the core SR-IOV implementation, so both must support SR-
IOV. In addition, the PCIe NIC driver must support Virtual Functions and Physical Functions.
Processor virtualization (such as AMD-v and Intel® VT-x) and chipset virtualization (such as AMD-Vi and Intel VT-d) allow a
VM and guest OS to share a SR-IOV-capable PCIe NIC. This allows the Virtual Machine Manager to assign one or more Virtual
Functions to each VM.
In addition to the Windows Server 2012 configuration requirements, your server configuration must also meet the following
criteria to use SR-IOV:
• The processor must support Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) and I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU)
technology. To meet these requirements, we recommend using either of the following processors. See the “SR-IOV-
compliant ProLiant servers” section for details on our servers that include these processors and support Windows Server
2012 SR-IOV:
– Intel Xeon® Processors with Intel64 architecture with VT-x and EPT
– Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD64) Opteron Series Processors with AMD-Vi and NPT
• The System ROM must be capable of enabling and describing the SR-IOV capabilities to the Windows Server 2012
operating system
• You must use an SR-IOV–capable NIC and driver
SR-IOV-compliant ProLiant servers
Table 1 lists the ProLiant servers and minimum System ROM version that are required for Windows Server 2012 and the SR-
IOV feature.
Important
SR-IOV requires both hardware and System ROM compliance to work. Your server must have the minimum System ROM
version listed in the table to enable SR-IOV. If necessary, update the System ROM before beginning enabling SR-IOV.
You can download System ROM updates from the HP Service Pack for ProLiant (HP SPP), which is available at
hp.com/go/spp/download or the HP Support Center at hp.com/go/support.
Table 1. Required System ROM versions
Server platform
System ROM family
System ROM Version
ProLiant BL servers
BL420c Gen8
I30
8/20/2012 or later
BL460c Gen8
I31
8/20/2012 or later
BL465c Gen8
A26
8/20/2012 or later
BL660c Gen8
I32
8/20/2012 or later
ProLiant DL servers
DL360e Gen8
P73
8/20/2012 or later
DL360p Gen8
P71
8/20/2012 or later
DL380e Gen8
P73
8/20/2012 or later